Environment Protection, Mining & Manufacturing Industries, Australia 2000-01 (cat. no. 4603.0) is the sixth in a continuing series of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) publications reporting on expenditure to protect the environment. It provides financial information such as current environment protection expenditure, capital environment protection expenditure and income from environment protection activities. The financial data were collected by environment domains or the type of degradation that they are addressing. These domains are defined in the Explanatory Notes at the end this web page.

In the 2000-01 issue of the publication, a number of changes were introduced. The range of industries covered was limited to mining and manufacturing industries as these are typically the largest consumers of environment protection goods and services. Also, there was an increase in the range of topics that were collected. These new topics introduced a range of physical, eco-efficiency and environment plan statistics. In the mining sector, information on water intake and discharge, land use and minesite rehabilitation was collected. For the manufacturing sector, information on water intake, waste and recycling data were collected.

Information was collected on environmental behaviour related to the development of environment management systems (EMS), plans or policies; barriers to implementing EMS; and sources of information. Data on barriers to implementing EMS and sources of information are not in this publication but are available on request.

MAIN FINDINGS

MINING INDUSTRY

In the mining industry, approximately 65% of businesses had current environment protection expenditure. These businesses spent $284m on payments to government, payments to private organisations and other expenses. Current expenditure on environment management was less than 1% of total current expenses for this industry. Of this:

Total water intake by the mining industry was 401GL. Of this, mains supplied water accounted for 49GL and self extracted water accounted for 352GL. Total water discharges were 183GL. Mine de-watering contributed to 111GL of water discharges and other discharges accounted for 72GL. Net water use, taking into account water intake and discharges, was 219 GL.

Mining operations in Australia in 2000-01 disturbed approximately 39,347ha of land. Nearly 34,972ha of land was under rehabilitation from past mining activities and over 12,695ha was considered to be rehabilitated to a reasonable approximation of its pre-mining condition.

Of those businesses that responded with eco-efficiency measures and which could calculate average annual savings, total eco-efficiency savings were estimated at $11m. Energy minimisation savings accounted for $7m and material input savings accounted for $2m.

Around 57% of mining businesses stated that they had an environment policy, plan or environment management system (EMS). Of those reporting environment plans, 82% had a written environment policy or plan and 55% reported a voluntary EMS or code of practice.

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

Total current environment protection expenditure of the manufacturing industry was $668m or less than 0.5% of total current expenditure. 70% of businesses had current environment protection expenditure for the 2000-01 year. Of this:

total current environment protection expenditure on waste management was over $500m;

food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing (ANZSIC 21) was the subdivision with the highest expenditure ($164m); and,

New South Wales was the state with the highest expenditure ($212m).

Capital environment protection expenditure accounted for nearly $438m, or 4% of total capital expenditure for the manufacturing industry. More than 17% of businesses in the manufacturing industry had capital environment protection expenditure for the 2000-01 financial year. Of this:

liquid waste management accounted for $176m;

metal product manufacturing (ANZSIC 27) was the subdivision with the highest ($128m); and,

New South Wales was the state with the highest expenditure ($138m).

Water intake by the manufacturing sector accounted for 793GL. Of this, mains supplied water accounted for 560GL and self extracted water accounted for 234GL.

Approximately 80% of manufacturers generated waste materials. Of those businesses generating waste, metal scrap (82%) was the highest reported material to be recycled.

Approximately 13% of manufacturers reported an environment plan. Of those businesses reporting environment plans, 54% reported a voluntary EMS or code of practice and 52% had a written environment policy or plan. Some businesses reported more than one environment plan being used for their operations.